Search results for "Agricultural Science"
showing 10 items of 901 documents
Re-Clustering tool using an Open-Reference method that improves OTU definition
2019
International audience; 1.Environmental microbial communities are now widely studied using metabarcoding approaches, thanks to the democratization of high‐throughput DNA sequencing technologies. The massive number of reads produced with these technologies requires bioinformatic solutions to be treated. A key step in the analysis is to cluster reads into Operational Taxonomic Units (or OTUs) and thus reduce the amount of data for downstream analyses. Due to the important impact of the clustering method on the quantity and quality of OTUs, finding an equilibrium between the reliability and time‐consuming nature of the chosen strategy is a real challenge. The present article proposes a new pos…
Presence of palm oil in foodstuffs: consumers' perception
2019
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine the presence of palm oil in food products on sale, and to study and compare consumers’ opinions about this oil type in Spain (importing country) and Peru (producing country). Design/methodology/approach Recent news published in both countries, which could influence consumer perceptions, were analysed. A study on the labelling of foodstuffs in Spain was carried out, as was a survey with Spanish and Peruvian consumers. Findings Palm oil was found in a large number of products and in a wide range of foods, especially those from the bakery sector. The percentages of saturated fats varied substantially within the same product type. Spanish consu…
Life Cycle Assessment of organic and conventional apple supply chains in the North of Italy
2017
Abstract This paper compares the energy and environmental impacts of organic and conventional apples cultivated in the North of Italy, by applying the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. The authors examined the supply chain of apples, including the input of raw materials and energy sources, the farming step, the post-harvest processes and the distribution of apples to the final users. The paper develops two original contributions: 1) it enhances the limited number of studies on LCA applied to apples; 2) it compares organic and conventional apples produced in lands characterized by the same climatic conditions, to evaluate which of the two products is more competitive from an energy an…
Economic and Financial Comparison between Organic and Conventional Farming in Sicilian Lemon Orchards
2015
Sicily has a long tradition in citrus fruit cultivations that with vineyard and olive tree represent the main Mediterranean tree crops. In this paper we have evaluated the economic and financial sustainability of lemon production, both in organic farming and in conventional farming
Adsorption and diffusion study, in gazeous phase, of wine active molecules in cork
2010
During wine ageing, oxidation reactions occur and can lead to wine sensory defaults. The main factors involved in this phenomenon are oxygen and gas barrier properties of stoppers. During the last ten years, some studies investigated oxygen transfer during winemaking and wine storage. However, only few of them deal with the interactions between molecules and sealing materials. The material studied in this work is raw cork, without any treatment, neither washed nor surface treated (with paraffin or silicone). This Phd work focuses on mass transfer of some wine active molecules, in gas phase, through the cork. The selected molecules are water, ethanol, sulphur dioxide and oxygen. An adsorptio…
Morphological characterisation of soil structure in tilled fields: from a diagnosis method to the modelling of structural changes over time
2004
Characterisation of soit structure within the tilled layer of cultivated fields is crucial because the importance of this soil characteristic on the biological, chemical and physical properties of the soil and its repercussions on water cycle, root growth and functioning. We present in this paper a method for field characterisation of soil structure. This method, practised since the 1970s, was designed for field diagnosis of the effects of cropping systems on soil structure. It is based on a stratification of the observation face of a pit dug perpendicular to the direction of tillage and traffic: spatial compartments are distinguished, according to the nature of the mechanical stresses they…
Climatic gradients along the windward slopes of Mount Kenya and their implication for crop risks. Part 2 : crop sensitivity.
2016
16 pages; International audience; Mount Kenya is an equatorial mountain whose climatic setting is fairly simple (two rainy seasons in March–May, the Long Rains, and October–December, the Short Rains) though concealing significant spatial variations related to elevation and aspect (part I, Camberlin et al., 2014). This part II is dedicated to the sensitivity of sorghum yields to climate variability in space and time, with a focus on the intra-seasonal characteristics of the rainy seasons. To that aim we use the crop model SARRA-H calibrated for the region and fed with rainfall, temperature, wind speed, humidity and solar radiation data over the period 1973–2001 at three stations located on t…
Build up of patches caused by Rhizoctonia solani
2010
Rhizoctonia solani is a complex species that is composed of different anastomosis groups (AG). Although these different AGs show differences in their host ranges, generally R. solani is a phytopathogenic species with a wide spectrum of hosts. It has the ability to grow as a saprotroph, which further complicates its behaviour as a parasite. The losses caused by R. solani are very important and need a sustainable management strategy. The patchy appearance of the disease caused by this pathogen is well-known. The patches show within and between season dynamics. The factors which affect the spread of the disease can be grouped into three main categories: host plant, pathogen and environment. Ho…
Gérer ensemble les territoires. Vers une démocratie coopérative
2010
National audience; Nombreuses, novatrices et souvent pertinentes, ces initiatives méritent d’être mieux reconnues afin de créer plus de synergies entre la gestion territoriale de l’environnement et les pouvoirs publics. Dialogues entre agriculteurs et ostréiculteurs au sujet de la qualité de l’eau, débats autour de la gestion d’un espace naturel ou de l’aménagement d’un quartier : les auteurs s’appuient sur trois cents projets menés en France pour dresser un portrait aux mille visages de la concertation territoriale. Ils montrent comment ces initiatives multiformes instaurent une véritable culture de la concertation indispensable à la dynamique des territoires et introduisent une nouvelle f…
Incidence and survival of human pathogens in French soils, impact of land use, pedoclimatic and biologic soil factors
2013
Soil contamination by bacterial pathogens can occur through manure, sewage sludge spreading or irrigation using waste water treatment plants effluents. Agricultural soils may act as reservoirs for these pathogens, play a significant role in their dissemination, leading to the potential contamination of food and water resources. Health risk associated with the occurrence of pathogens in environmental matrices has to be thoroughly evaluated. In this context, the objectives of this work were: i) to determine the prevalence of two pathogenic bacterial species (Listeria monocytogenes and Enterococcus faecalis) in a large collection of French soils originated from a systematic soil survey of the …